Members of the Auto-Rickshaw Association in the district headquarters town of Kendrapada on Wednesday resorted to a unique protest against the mismanagement in the lord Jagannath’s Brahma Parivartan rituals and also alleged Daru fixing in the ongoing Nabakalebar festival.The auto drivers tonsured their heads and took a dip in the Gobari river on the bank near the Sujanpur Mangala temple here after offering Shraddha to the Badagrahis (body protectors of lords).
Seething with anger, they made a beeline to the riverbank and performed the rites to register their protest. Clad in dhotis, the traditional attire worn on such occasions, the youths were seen sitting cross-legged on the floor with their heads bent forward.“We demand the strictest possible action against all those responsible – whether they are administrators, servitors or someone else, for the mess,” said Soumya Ranjan Jena, an office-bearer of the association
Jena’s colleague Madhab Chandra Pradhan demanded that the mobile phones of the Daitapatis, who had carried them inside during the Ghata Parivartan ritual, be scanned and action initiated against them.